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Everything you need to know about the UCLA vs. Arizona Football game
Thus far, the Arizona Football team has performed better than anyone expected, anyone that is except Coach Rodriguez and his Wildcats.
This Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Arizona Football team will travel for the second time this season to take on the UCLA Bruins (2-2). The Bruins are coming off a heartbreaking loss as well. They lost to Stanford. Stanford (No. 7) will meet Washington (No. 10), our opponent last weekend, this Friday night.
Both UCLA and Arizona feel this game is a must win. The Wildcats will want to break the four-game UCLA win streak, and UCLA fans are starting to call for Mora’s head. Sounds a bit like the Oregon fans and the USC fans.
One of the hardest jobs in college football, to be a football coach in the Pac-12. Let’s see what they had to say this week in preparation. We also bring you for the first time, our sister site, Go Joe Bruin and Zona Zealots Experts talk about the game with Mark Rogers.
Game Information: Arizona (2-2) ranked 4th vs. UCLA (2-2) ranked 5th in the Pac-12 South
Location: Pasadena, California – Rose Bowl (92,542)
When: October 1, 2016
Game Time: 7:30 pm PST/MST
Television: ESPN (Yay!)
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Try TuneIn Radio), Brian Jeffries and Lamont Lovett
Betting line: UCLA -13.5
Series Lead: Arizona has lost the last four games under Rich Rodriguez to UCLA, UCLA is 23-15-2 against Arizona
Last Meeting: Tucson, September 26, 2015, UCLA won 56-30
Uniforms: Arizona will wear All White
Saturday night in LA, we'll be wearing… pic.twitter.com/NsrVedg6kX
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 29, 2016
UCLA Notes:
We spoke to Coach Mora on the Pac-12 Football Coaches Teleconference call along with Michael Lev on Arizona
September 10, 2016; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora watches game action against the UNLV Rebels during the first half at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
UCLA Coach Jim Mora’s preparing for Arizona’s spread offense and our quarterback Brandon Dawkins, “He puts huge stress on a defense. He’s lightning fast, he’s quick, he’s decisive, he can break arm tackles. It’s almost like they are in the Wildcat every single play with a guy who can throw the ball. It’s really tough to defend that offense — he’s just really special with the ball in his hands — He makes you pay for any little mistake you make — The Guy, he’s Big Time!”
Mora is not taking the game against Arizona lightly, “Well, we don’t take any game lightly, and we don’t think that past success predicts future success, every game is its own entity, as I said earlier. We are preparing for this Arizona football team and what’s happened in the past has no bearing on what may happen on Saturday — we have to prepare every week so we can play to the best of our ability every Saturday. ”
As for if he has experienced any pleasant surprises from his players this season, “I can honestly say no. They’re playing at a pretty high level. I’m thinking of our roster and the things these young men seem to be capable of. I think the one thing I’m looking for out of all of us is a little more consistency.”
Arizona Notes:
Coach Rich Rodriguez has an issue on his hands, but he is not stranger to moving his pieces around to complete his team’s roster for the week. Taking any quarterback talk off the table since Brandon Dawkins is ranked No. 3 in the Pac-12. This according the ESPN and will start for Arizona.
We spoke to Coach Rod on the Pac-12 Football Coaches Teleconference call how they go about granting the award each week
On losing streak with UCLA, “Well, what’s in the past is in the past, but there’s no question we haven’t played well against them. Some of it’s been us, and some of it’s been them. They’ve just played better — It’s disappointing.”
On UCLA Defense, “They are very athletic on all three levels — they play hard, and they are well-coached, so there are no weaknesses whatsoever.”
On feeling snake bitten or not regarding multiple injuries at one position, “It’s a little unfortunate certainly — The J.J. Injury was really disheartening, we just thought he was just really coming on, he was explosive — but that’s going to happen, we have a lot of guys on the team who are willing to play tailback.”
On RB Depth, “Well the two players who finished the game — Tyrell Johnson, whose played mostly receiver, and Zach Green whose been here, are the top two. We have a walk on, Branden Leon, whose going to get some reps and then we are going to move a wideout or two to get some reps in practice this week to get ready.
On Trey Griffey block that helped Brandon Dawkins make that 79-yard touchdown, “We are really proud of they way that wide out blocked downfield for the most part. And Trey’s a hustler. He’s a very physical guy. I was a little nervous that they might get him in the back because the guy was trailing him. But he got there in enough time, and it was a great effort. Trey’s an outstanding downfield blocker.”
Coach Rod responds to Coach Mora’s answer to ZZ in this Arizona Daily Star interview:
GoJoeBruin Expert Mike Relagado joined Zona Zealots Expert Shereen Rayan on MarkRogersTV to discuss the upcoming game and rivalry (? you be the judge).
Prediction:
Arizona 31 UCLA 27
You would think it would be an upset because UCLA is ahead of Arizona in the rankings, you would be wrong, Arizona is ahead by one spot. UCLA though is favored, so I guess you could say it would be an upset if the Wildcats win.
Last week we hoped for an upset, this week, I think we are poised for an upset. Even though Coach Mora and all the Bruin fans think this will be a walk in the park, it won’t end up that way. The Bruins do have a tendency to be able to take out our quarterbacks during games like when they took out BJ Decker and Anu Solomon. Both got concussions. So Brandon will have to pay close attention to avoid those attempts. BearDown Arizona!
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